Romeo And Juliet Tragedy Essay, Research Paper

Fred Paoletti

Mr. Smith/English

June 7, 2000

Notice whenever Juliet seeks for help, the people close to her tend to always let her down? Why is that? Aren?t your friends or family members suppose to be the ones who are always there for you, and never let you down? Well not in Juliet?s case. You see, Shakespeare, the author of Romeo & Juliet wrote the story in a way that Juliet a main character in the story, whenever seeks for guidance from her friends and family members, especially when she needs it most, is always betrayed or let down. In the following paragraphs, I will explain how, Lady Capulet, Friar Lawrence and Romeo betrayed her, and how this caused Juliet to make the wrong decisions in her life.

First of all, Lady Capulet is Juliet?s mother. A mother is suppose to be close to her daughter, and is the person who knows and understands Juliet the most. But in this case her mother is the first person to let her down. For example, when Lord Capulet made the decision in act three scene 5 that Juliet should marry Paris, her mother stood up for that decision even though she knew that Juliet didn’t want to marry Paris. I think her mother should of been on Juliet?s side, because she’s her mother and she has experience in marriage and should know marrying someone you do not like is not a good idea. Also, another betrayal by Lady Capulet is that she teaches Juliet to judge men by their money, their social rank and their appearance. For example, she recommended Paris to Juliet because he is rich, good looking and on the Capulet?s side. This is not good. Because Juliet really does love Romeo, and when her mother says things like that, it really makes Juliet upset, because Romeo is not rich, and their family hates her family and vice versa. These points show how shallow Lady Capulet?s character is. This prevents Juliet to ask advice from her mother, and cannot get guidance from her.

Secondly, Friar Lawrence is the second person who betrays and lets-down Juliet. As you already know, Friar Lawrence is a priest and he was the one who agreed to marry Romeo to Juliet. Friar Lawrence let?s down Juliet in two ways. The first way, was not all his fault, but he could have prevented it by just giving more effort. For example, when Friar Lawrence and Juliet agree on the plan to temporarily make Juliet look dead (act four scene 1), Friar Lawrence wrote a letter to Romeo telling him what was really going on. Well, Romeo did not get that letter on time, so he ended up killing himself because he thought Juliet was dead, and when Juliet woke up she killed herself because Romeo was dead. Friar Lawrence should have tried harder to get that letter to Romeo. Perhaps personally giving the letter to him, or to tell Romeo?s friend, Balthazar to tell Romeo about the plan, or at least following up on the letter himself to make sure he got it. Another betrayal by Friar Lawrence is at the end of the story (act 3 scene 5). When Friar Lawrence and Juliet are in the tomb, after Romeo killed Paris, then himself, Juliet awakens. Juliet awakens, and asks where Romeo is? Friar Lawrence without answering her, hears a sound and tells her the ?watch is coming? (act 5 scene 3 lines 158). Friar Lawrence is scared because he hears someone coming, and doesn?t want to be caught. So he leaves, and Juliet doesn?t come along, so she?s left all alone. This is where he betrays her. Friar Lawrence should not of agreed to leave Juliet all alone. Because then Juliet wouldn?t of killed herself when she saw Romeo dead. Instead Friar Lawrence only cared about himself, and ran out of the tomb immediately when he heard someone was coming.

Thirdly, the last person you expected betrayed Juliet, which was Romeo. As you know Romeo and Juliet were teenagers when they got married. But they claim they were supposedly mature enough to get married. I believe Romeo betrayed Juliet because he was immature, yet he claimed to be mature. And because of him being immature the story would of ended in a better way. To begin with, he let her down by getting into a fight with Tybalt (act three scene 1). This fight started when Tybalt killed Mercutio, and Romeo was just dealing with his feelings of vengeance towards Tybalt. If he really felt true love for Juliet he would not of killed Tybalt, because he should of known the consequences would be such that he would not see Juliet anymore and Juliet would feel different towards him because he killed her cousin. Another betrayal by Romeo was that he committed suicide. He killed himself to show his love to Juliet. A person does not have to show his love by killing himself after his or her lover is dead? By killing himself he would only show his ?love? to the people still alive, which is not important because what you really want to do is show your love to your lover, not friends or family members still alive. But you can?t because suicide is a big sin and you will go to hell for it. So what?s the point? They won?t see each other again if one or both goes to hell, or one goes to heaven. This is a betrayal by Romeo, because Juliet is forced to kill herself. If Romeo didn?t kill himself, I doubt that Juliet would kill herself.

As a result of Juliet being betrayed a few times, it influenced her to make wrong mistakes which lead her to her death. If it wasn?t because of Lady Capulet and her father forcing her to marry Paris, she wouldn?t of made a plan with Friar Lawrence to make herself look dead. And if only Romeo controlled his feeling against Tybalt, he wouldn?t of killed him, which lead to his banishment. Also if Friar Lawrence cared less about his own reputation, he would of stayed in the tomb with Juliet, and probably could of prevented Juliet?s suicide. Therefore Juliet?s death is evident that it is partially Lady Capulet?s, Friar Lawrence?s and Romeo?s fault.

Romeo and Juliet, is a story of two young lovers, whose love

whose love would bring them much more than they had ever hoped for. They did not imagine that their love would lead to the tragedies that it did. In theory, these two young people did nothing wrong except fall in love. Reasons for their demise in this world so early in their lives included the feud between the two families, Juliet?s father making decisions that would greatly impact her life without her consultation, and the most important aspect of all is fate.

The feud between the two families was one factor that

contributed to the love of Romeo and Juliet being destined for

destruction. “From ancient grudge break to new mutiny”. (Romeo &

Juliet, Prologue, pg.2 l.3) The two families, the Montagues and Capulets had a history of feuding with each other; consequently, the feuds had on occasion resulted in bloody confrontations in the streets of Verona. Even after many decades had passed, there was hate between the two families so much so that even the servants hated each other. This feud would have caused many problems for Romeo and Juliet: These two young lovers knew this

and this is why they kept their relationship a secret. If their parents

discovered their secret, they would have made their children’s lives

miserable; furthermore, Romeo and Juliet would not have been able to see each

other. Both of these families were very stubborn and there was hardly

any thing that would have made them become friends. In the prologue

we learn that the only way the “strife” could be ended was by the

deaths of Romeo and Juliet. We must remember that both Romeo and Juliet are the heir?s to their family as they are the only children in the family that will assume head of the house when their predecessors pass-on. “Doth with their death bury their

parent’s strife”. (Romeo & Juliet, Prologue, l.8) Neither the

Montague nor the Capulet families would have accepted the marriage. Keeping

the marriage a secret caused Romeo and Juliet to turn to other people

for help; however, sometimes these people gave them the wrong advice or

betrayed them.

A second reason why Romeo and Juliet?s relationship was make even harder to proceed with, was because behind the closed doors of the Capulet house Juliet?s father was making decisions about juliet?s future that she could not control. He was deciding whether or not he was going to allow Paris to marry Juliet, and how soon the marriage would take place.

When considering the destruction of Romeo and Juliet the most

sifnificant fact you must think about is fate. Fate, above all,

destroyed Romeo and Juliet. Many instances in the play reveals that

the love of Romeo and Juliet would end in death. “A pair of

star-crossed lovers take their life”. (Romeo & Juliet,pg.2, Prologue,

l.6) From the very beginning it is evident that they were destined by

the stars to bad fortune. Some people may think that there is no way

to control fate or change what is in the stars. It could be that the

love of Romeo and Juliet was destined for death so that their parent’s

feud would be over. Also, in the prologue it states that the dreadful

course of their love was destined for death. “The fearful passage of

their death marked love”. (Romeo & Juliet, pg.2, Prologue, l.9) Both

of these quotes show us that the love of these two was destined to end

tragically. The masquerade party was above all the most important

aspect of fate. The fact that Romeo was wearing a mask and his face

was hidden allowed Juliet to fall in love with him before she saw who

it was. If Juliet had known who Romeo was she would probably have not

fallen in love with him. Fate could not have been changed whatever

was meant to be would happen and no one could change that.

In conclusion, from the very beginning, the love of Romeo and

Juliet was destined to be destroyed. It is tragic that both these

people had to give their lives just so they could love each other. There were circumstances throughout the course of

their lives that led up to their deaths. If their parent’s had not

been feuding and if the Nurse had not betrayed Juliet, the outcome of

this story would have been different, although fate could not be

changed. This was the most important factor in the lives of Romeo and

Juliet. In my opinion the quote that accurately summarizes this play

is, “For never was there a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and

her Romeo.” (Romeo & Juliet, V, iii, p. 138, ll.309-310)

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